Toro Rosso: Never discount the underdog

Toro Rosso may be a minnow in Formula 1 terms, but it is holding its own against rivals with much more ample resources. Technical director Giorgio Ascanelli told Edd Straw how the giantkilling happens

"When a man with a rifle meets a man with a pistol, the man with the pistol is a dead man," says Giorgio Ascanelli, pausing before adding. "Unless the man with the rifle is blind."

In this scenario, Scuderia Toro Rosso technical director Ascanelli is the man with the pistol facing down a grid full of rifle-toting rivals. For all that it has owner Red Bull's might behind it, the ex-Minardi team remains a relative minnow in Formula 1 terms. Yet despite that, it was an under-the-radar success story last year. It has realistic prospects of building on that in 2012 with the STR7, which will break cover next Monday afternoon.